City cracks down on "illegal" Food Trucks

[Peepers]

It looks like the City is going to chase away the Gourmet Food trucks that have recently turned up in Downtown parking lots (Church & Queen)

Food Trucks like "Food Cabbie" which is run by a chef from Napa Valley and serves up "American style" burgers and Philly beef steak sandwiches (among other delicious things) have been told that they must vacate the parking lot at the end of the month.

You can read more about this at the below link where you will find a link to an online petition. I have emailed the local councilors and anyone opposed to seeing these food trucks pushed out of the city should do likewise.

http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2012...l_food_trucks/

Email these councilors:

councillor_wongtam@toronto.ca

councillor_mcconnell@toronto.ca

Check out some of the food options!

http://torontofoodtrucks.ca/toronto-...pularity-video

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Well, they are illegal under the current by-laws, nothing "quote-unquote" about them. Why should anyone get a free pass just because they're gourmet? That said, the city should revamp the rules to make things more permissive for everyone.

And please don't use icons in your thread titles - they are distracting as hell.

AoD

[Jonny5]

Well, they are illegal under the current by-laws, nothing "quote-unquote" about them. Why should anyone get a free pass just because they're gourmet? That said, the city should revamp the rules to make things more permissive for everyone.

Reading through to the linked story, the owner of this particular truck applied for and was issued a permit. The city is now reversing its stance. Also, it doesn't appear to be a gourmet truck, which I personally find to be annoying concept anyway. I support the concept of food trucks as a means of providing individuals an inexpensive way to enter the food service market but the administration has to be done very carefully or it can snowball into nothing but vanity operations for superstar chefs who drive around once month selling $15 hot dogs or it could be overrun by fast food chain operations. I read about Subway operating few food trucks in a US city.

[Peepers]

Well, they are illegal under the current by-laws, nothing "quote-unquote" about them. Why should anyone get a free pass just because they're gourmet? That said, the city should revamp the rules to make things more permissive for everyone.

And please don't use icons in your thread titles - they are distracting as hell.

AoD

I don't care if it is "quote un-quote" illegal - it is a stupid bylaw that should not exist in the first place and must be changed. The owners obtained every other licence.

As for using "distracting" icons in my thread title - why does this site allow for post icons in the first place if you find them so "distracting"? Maybe you need to look at getting that changed if you find them so "distracting" .

[unimaginative2]

Sigh...this is depressing. The food trucks here in New York are amazing and many offer food that is as good as or better than what you get in restaurants, and for a reasonable price. Obviously we should open this up in Toronto, but if all we get is freeze dried burgers, it won't be worth much.

[Ice_Burn]

This was the ONE thing I thought Ford was going to improve in his term as mayor. I mean, all the pieces are there right? Here's a fat man who loves food (presumably all different kinds) who believes himself to be a real conservative and thus a believer in a laissez-faire free market, which should be the two pieces of the puzzle required to let food vendors do their thing without a bunch of red tape and restrictions. We don't need someone holding our hand with our food choices - if someone is selling bad food that makes people sick, they won't be in business too long. Don't penalize every quality food vendor because a couple of idiots don't know enough not to leave mayonnaise out in the sun.

[Peepers]

I see that Councillor's Wong-Tam and Vaughan have co-sponsored a motion that could eventually lead to Food Trucks being allowed to set up shop in parking spots across the city - something Toronto desperately needs!

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/edito...-feast#article

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2...file-46900.pdf

If you , like I , support expanded permissions for Food Trucks I would urge you to email city hall with your support for this motion.

In the subject line of your email: Agenda Item MM23.21 Expanding Permissions for Food Trucks‏

Send your email to:

clerk@toronto.ca
mayor_ford@toronto.ca
councillor_wongtam@toronto.ca
councillor_vaughan@toronto.ca

[MadMax]

Thanks Peepers! E-mails have been sent.

[Peepers]

A disappointing update on this issue:

Toronto Gourmet Food Trucks Stall

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/city...d-trucks-stall

The city rejected a proposal that would allow the food truck that popped up downtown this year to remain in public parking lots (where they have been paying rent).

The food truck operators have been told to vacate the lots by the end of this month or face very steep fines.

I am very disappointed to see this happen but the problem is the public was not aware of what was happening and with little public pressure city hall was bound to come to this decision.

City Hall has no interest in seeing a flourishing street food scene.

How many people are aware of the fact that there has been a moratorium on street food vendor permits for the last 10 years?

How many people are aware that the hot-dog stand fleet has shrunk by 70% in the last 10 years? From 370 ten years ago to 113 today?

In what is a smoke screen measure the - in the same meeting the city endorsed a proposal to allow the remaining 113 hot-dog vendors the option to sell pre-packaged seeds and nuts, pre-packaged fruits, whole fruit such as apples, oranges and bananas! Big deal! We can already buy this pre-packaged stuff at any variety store!

This move will allow the politicians to say that they have "heard the cries for more diverse food on the street and they have responded!". In other words we are being played as idiots again.

I'm curious if any members of this forum have even sampled the food being offered by the small fleet of food trucks? How do you feel about the food trucks being evicted from downtown in a few days?

Of course we will still see them downtown at special organized events such as at the Brickworks where the organizer charges $20 for the privilege of letting you buy food from the trucks, but it looks like gone are the days when you can walk up to a food truck parked at Queen and Dalhousie and order the best cheeseburger in town for just $5.75 (including tax!)

I was really surprised how little interest that this issue garnered on this board. Only five responses, meanwhile the appearance of new cladding on a building under construction can easily generate five pages of comments.

[taal]

I'll be honest, I've never really seen the appeal of them, and I've been to city where there are plenty. There's a certain 'cool' factor but other then that .....

[dt_toronto_geek]

I always see really sweaty people working inside the food trucks, and I wonder how clean things can be in the trucks with a somewhat limited water supply. I'm sure they meet codes but it often crosses my mind and discourages me from buying from them - except that amazing french fry truck on Queen in front of City Hall a few times per year, so I guess that makes me a hypocrite.

[PinkLucy]

I've seen a few questionable sanitation practices. I'm sure most are fine but I'm not willing to risk it.

[urbandreamer]

I wouldn't buy from a food truck. Just like many rundown restaurants I refuse to take the health risk. Even trendy clean places aren't perfect, so why should I support this business model? Also how environmentally friendly are these things? Perhaps the owners should revitalize vacant retail strips before the city needs to embrace this trend.

[Peepers]

I'm surprised how many people are citing sanitation concerns.

Have any of you sampled food from the new breed of food trucks? Have any of you sampled food from Caplansky's, Food Cabbie, Blue Donkey, Busters Cove , etc?

These trucks are spotlessly clean (not like the trucks parked in front of city hall). They are equipped with hand washing facilities and refrigeration.

I actually feel safer eating food from these new trucks than I do from the cockroach and rat infested restaurants operating out of ramshackle buildings downtown.

Sure on a hot summer day you will see some sweaty people but the same is true of the brick and mortar restaurants. If we could look at the conditions inside the kitchens of these restaurants you would see a lot of sweaty people or worse!

[taal]

Right, sanity isn't a big issue in my books, its more of a question why ? Why would you rather eat from a food truck then a restaurant that serves the same food on a nice patio !

The only argument I can buy is if speed is an issue, but then one must question the quality of the food.